What Are The Different Dialects Spoken in China

What Are The Different Dialects Spoken in China Dive into the Heart of Learning Chinese Multilingualism... Chapters The State of Languages in China Mandarin Cantonese WuA question a lot of expats ask before moving to China is “Should I learn Mandarin or Cantonese?” Sadly, given how complicated the Chinese languages can be, this question doesn’t have a simple answer. However, it does have an interesting one that we're going to have a look at over the course of this article.Despite an empire spanning centuries and popular movements, China’s always been home to many different languages and peoples. This can be pretty confusing for anyone wanting to learn Chinese since the Chinese language as a single entity doesn't really exist. According to linguists, Chinese is a group of related languages. However, classifying what constitutes a language and what constitutes a dialect is something that linguists still can't come to an agreement on.The most commonly spoken language in this group of languages is Mandarin. This is why when most people say that they're learning Chinese, they probably mean Mandarin Chinese since these are also the most common kind of Mandarin lessons.If it helps, you can think of this a bit like the languages spoken in Western Europe, where there are a number of languages related to Latin including Spanish, Italian, and French. All of these languages are related to one another but a speaker of one wouldn’t be able to understand a speaker of another.We’re going to try and make things a little clearer and debunk a few myths about China, the languages, and Chinese culture.Uncover for yourself the history of the Chinese language... the most spoken language in the world! CantoneseIt would go without saying that in a country as big as Zhongguo (“the Middle Kingdom”) would have more than just Chinese Mandarin as a common language.Discover the influence Chinese has had on all of Asia...Cantonese is widely spoken in Hong Kong. (Source: Jerome)Cantonese, which differs from Mandarin in terms of structure, characters used, pronunciation, and is spoke n by over 71 million people, is a term with two meanings.It can be used to designate both a group of people as well as the language, which has been standardised like Mandarin has been.In Cantonese you’ll find that:The sentence structures differ to those of MandarinThe grammar rules are from Ancient ChineseThere are far more particles than you’d find in MandarinWhile often associated with traditional Chinese characters, modernity is at the heart of Cantonese due to standardisation and the simplification of characters on forums, in texts, and on Cantonese-language blogs.There are many foreigners that have absolutely no idea that there are several different languages in China. It's important to know that some people prefer Cantonese, which is spoken in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong Province, Guangxi, and Southeast Asia, over any other Chinese language.As we said, Cantonese isn’t just spoken in Guangdong Province (formerly known as Canton). It’s also spoken in Hong Kong and by a l arge number of number of people internationally.Cantonese has been made more popular through Cantonese cinema, Cantopop music, and the global status of Hong Kong which has certain authorities worried that it poses a threat to Mandarin.In fact, a large number of Cantopop songs are written in Mandarin Chinese and just pronounced as they would be in Cantonese. Thus, Cantonese is often just thought of as an “alternative” version of Mandarin that only differs in terms of pronunciation while it actually differs massively in terms of structure.Cantonese, which is thought of as China’s second language in terms of speakers, is sometimes put in third place after a group of languages known as “Wu”.Find out more about Chinese’s influence around Asia or have a look at our tutors offering Chinese lessons London to Londonderry across the UK.Go deeper into Mandarin and Cantonese to discover which language you should learn... WuWu (?? / ?? / wúyu) is a term used for a group of languages which includes “Shanghainese”, the language spoken by the inhabitants of Shanghai.Wu is the variety of Chinese spoken in Shanghai, the country's economic centre. (Source: Claudia Seidensticker)There are 77 million people who speak Wu in Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and between 7 and 8% of Chinese people can speak it fluently.Sometimes referred to as China’s second language, Wu (unlike Cantonese) has no standardised form and includes a number of different separate dialects with differing degrees of mutual intelligibility.The make things more confusing, Wu’s sometimes considered a separate language entirely and other times thought of as just a dialect of Mandarin. It’s not very accessible to foreigners as, in comparison to Mandarin, there are limited resources available for those wanting to learn it.Wu, which like Mandarin, Cantonese, and Min, belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family, has been subject to a dramatic phonetic shift over the course of the years.8 tones merged into 5 and modern Wu makes use of only two of them. This is a rare linguistic phenomenon when you consider the tones in Mandarin.Find out more about tones in Chinese, or learn Mandarin London with our Superprof Chinese tutors.Delve deeper into the history of Mandarin...